A vintage Dutch solid silver fob medal for the ship "MS Oranjefontein". Back bears silver stamps for "H.Hooykaas (1924-1943) and "90" (.900 purity).
Diameter: 2.8cm
Hanging Length: 7.7cm
Weight: 10.2g
The MS Oranjefontein was launched on March 21, 1940 and a few weeks later, on May 10 the Netherlands would be invaded by the Germans, and Rotterdam would be severely bombed on May 14 by the Germans to make the Netherlands concede, and they destroyed the entire City Centre and nearby areas, but the large passenger liners in construction nearby, such as the magnificent 23000 ton M.S. Willem Ruys and the smaller M.S. Oranjefontein were thankfully spared. On March 17, 1941, she was officially seized by the German Navy, However on July 16, she was damaged during an allied bombing, but things got worse for her as on August 28, there was another attack, which saw her badly damaged by bombs that fell close by, and she sank to the bottom of the Waalhaven. She was soon raised and she was taken under tow with a new name Pioneer to Kiel, where she was repaired and refitted. Whilst in Kiel she became a recreational ship for Kriegsmarine (German Naval) officers and she had been transferred to the renamed German-Africa Lines of Hamburg. Then, early in 1945, the M.S. Pioneer participated in the evacuation of Germans from East Prussia and East Germany, however when the British Army captured Kiel in 1945, and the M.S. Pioneer was transferred to Hamburg, where she briefly became a depot ship for the English army. On July 12, 1945 the Pioneer was finally returned to the Dutch Government, and they sent her to a Newcastle ship yard to be repaired and on September 12, 1945 she departed Newcastle having been completely overhauled and she returned home and she was renamed once again M.S. Oranjefontein.
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